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By Paul McLeary and Connor O’Brien The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday voted to block states from using private funds to pay for National Guard deployments to other states, just months after one governor accepted private donations to send Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. During its deliberations on the annual National Defense Authorization Act, the panel… Read more »

By Anthony Jackson and Lauren Villagran About 1,200 Afghan refugees landed at Fort Bliss on Wednesday, many with hopes for a new life in the United States and fears for those left behind in a country in turmoil, according to U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. The congresswoman said she toured the refugee shelter on Wednesday at Fort Bliss, which will take in up… Read more »

By Erin Coulehan Border state lawmakers are working together to pass legislation that would expand and enhance public health initiatives. On Monday, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) led legislators in introducing H.R. 4812 — the Border Health Security Act — that would strengthen multi-country efforts to screen for infectious diseases, while also providing support for crucial… Read more »

By Rep. Veronica Escobar and Mark Magaña For more than a century, conservationists fought to protect our wide-open American spaces from the degradation of humanity. This movement established what many called America’s Best Idea, but also reproduced many of the inequalities we see so clearly in so many of our institutions — our federally protected lands, waters, and oceans have for too… Read more »

By Suzanne Gamboa At a time when states are restricting the teaching of racism in U.S. history, Rep. Veronica Escobar is calling for a correction of the bigotry that denied a Mexican American World War I hero the nation’s highest military honor.  Escobar, a Texas Democrat, has introduced legislation that would authorize President Joe Biden to posthumously award Marcelino… Read more »

By Congresswoman Veronica Escobar Many Republicans are eager to blame President Biden for the increase in families and children arriving at the border, but the truth is that this is not a new phenomenon. Since 2014, as Central American migrants have come, generous border communities like El Paso have ensured that they are safe and cared for. Meanwhile, the rest of the country wrings… Read more »

By Aaron Martinez March 11, 2021 Efforts led by U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar to bring a federal vaccination site to El Paso could result in the area getting thousands of COVID-19 vaccine doses per day. President Joe Biden announced soon after he was sworn in that he would use the Federal Emergency Management Agency to bring vaccination sites to areas across the… Read more »

By Shannon Najmabadi All 13 Democrats who represent Texas in Congress are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to reverse a yearslong effort to boot Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program, saying it jeopardizes thousands of low-income Texans’ ability to access nonabortion health services. Their plea comes just days after a state district judge temporarily stopped the… Read more »

BY REPS. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TEXAS), ROSA DELAURO (D-CONN.), JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D-ILL.), AND EARL BLUMENAUER (D-ORE.) The United States and Mexico have both been slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic with more than six million U.S. cases and 185,000 deaths and Mexico surging to 606,000 cases, the eighth highest in the world. Yet amidst this global health crisis, Mexico’s Congress recently… Read more »

By Rebecca Kheel The Democratic-controlled House voted Monday to add limits to the Insurrection Act after President Trump threatened to invoke it to deploy active-duty troops against recent protests over racial injustice. In a 215-190 vote, the House approved the Insurrection Act changes as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The vote fell largely along party-lines,… Read more »